Dead woman in well eludes Saudi rescuers

The world’s largest oil producing company has joined rescue efforts to find the body of a Saudi woman who plunged into a 50-metre water well in the Gulf kingdom last week, a local newspaper reported on Sunday.

Rescue teams struggling for nearly eight days have failed to pinpoint the body of the 30-year-old woman, giving rise to rumors that she might have fled her home or have been kidnapped by jinn (genies), Okaz said.

On Saturday, the civil defence decided to call in a team from the state-owned Saudi Aramco, the world’s largest oil producing firm with more than 70 years experience in drilling underground for hydrocarbons.

“I started to feel that the woman has not fallen into the well,” said Sheikh Saleh bin Saad Al Lahidan, a judicial advisor in the central town of Taif. “But I don’t believe the rumors that she might have been kidnapped by jinn.”

The woman was walking near her village outside Taif when she stepped on a thin metal cover on top of the well and plunged nearly 50 metres down.

Rescue teams have been looking for her body since December 31, prompting her husband to call for stopping the search and turning the well into her grave.

But the woman’s father insisted on continuation of the search for his dead daughter to make sure no criminal activity was involved in her death.Saudi newspapers have not identified the woman but said she was survived by a one-year-old daughter.

According to Okaz, the civil defence decided to seek Saudi Aramco’s help after its efforts to dig a pit next to the well were blocked by the presence of what it described as a massive rock layer 20 metres underground.

“She may be suffering from a psychological problem and fled her home…she also might have been kidnapped by some one but not by jinn,” Lahidan said.

But Okaz and other newspapers reported that the woman’s friends heard her scream just before she plunged into the well.

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